Artists are in a ton of pain from the job. They're also under a lot of pressure to be perfect with every needle stroke. We spend all day holding awkward positions and gripping a vibrating machine. We have a ton of back pain, elbow pain, and hand pain. If there's a spot we're tattooing that requires us to stand for hours at a time, we get leg and foot pain. Artists regularly have to take a month off just to rest their bodies, but the moment we go back to work, we're exacerbating things all over again.
It's not for everyone, but it is a commitment. Once you're done at the shop, you're at home drawing for tomorrow, which means sleep is going to come sparingly. You're going to be criticized and push yourself to a point that breaks a lot of artists. Not to mention you're going to have to apprentice and work your regular job to pay the bills (usually one to two years, could be longer). It will take a few years to get your name out there and pop the algorithm. If you can stomach all this, you can't imagine how good it feels when you put a good piece on someone, and they walk out stoked about your art being on their body forever. It's incomparable, and you'll move from there.
Sometimes the places are a bit *ahem* unconventional, and I'll feel uncomfortable, so I'll just get someone else to do it.
When I apprenticed, the shop was next door to a Salvation Army food kitchen. The tattoo shop owner would have apprentices go to the kitchen to see if anyone wanted a free tattoo, that way we could graduate from practicing on fruit and pig skin to actual people. He didn't make me do it, because I was a woman and some of the guys at the shelter were a little off, but my friend apprenticing at the same time did.
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